This invention relates to a CTI system.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2002-77363 discloses a CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) system including an exchange, a telephone set connected to the exchange, and a personal computer (PC) connected to the telephone set. The patent application Publication further discloses that, in the CTI system, it is possible to notify a caller number from a multifunctional telephone set to the PC by the use of a caller number notification service of a telephone line, to display caller information, such as an address or a company name of a caller, on the PC with reference to the caller number, and to control an operation of the telephone set from the PC.
Referring to FIG. 1, a related CTI system as a basis of this invention will be described. The related CTI system comprises a main unit (exchange) 11 connected to a network 10 (which is typically, a telephone network (external line)), first and second telephone terminals (TEL1 and TEL2) 12-1 and 12-2 connected to the main unit 11, a CTI server (computer) 13 connected to the main unit 11, a LAN (Local Area Network) 14 connected to the CTI server 13, and first and second information processing terminals (clients 1 and 2) 15-1 and 15-2 connected to the LAN 14. In this case, each of the first and the second information processing terminals (clients 1 and 2) 16-1 and 15-2 illustrated in the figure is a personal computer (PC) having a communication unit CU for communicating with the CTI server 13 of the main unit 11 through the LAN 14.
The client 15-1 is arranged nearer to the first telephone terminal 12-1 than to the second telephone terminal 12-2. The client 15-2 is arranged nearer to the second telephone terminal 12-2 than to the first telephone terminal 12-1. In the main unit 11 (or in the CTI server 13), association between the client 15-1 (ID (Identification) data thereof) and the first telephone terminal 12-1 (ID data thereof) and association between the client 15-2 (ID data thereof) and the second telephone terminal 12-2 (ID data thereof) are fixedly (statically) established as setting information.
As described above, in the CTI system illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing terminals and the telephone terminals are fixedly (i.e., statically) associated with each other. In the CTI system illustrated in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the information processing terminal (client 1) 15-1 is a portable PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) having a communication unit CU for communicating with the CTI server 13 of the main unit 11 through the LAN 14 and that a WAP (Wireless Access Point) is connected to the LAN 14 so as to enable radio connection of the PDA to the LAN 14.
In this case, even if a possessor of the client (PDA) 15-1 carries the client (PDA) 15-1 and moves away from the first telephone terminal 12-1 to a position near the second telephone terminal 12-2, the main unit 11 sends a call destined to the possessor of the client (PDA) 15-1 to the first telephone terminal 12-1. Therefore, the possessor of the client (PDA) 15-1 can not respond to the call.
In order to associate the client (PDA) 15-1 with the second telephone terminal 12-2, it is necessary to change the association between the information processing terminals and the telephone terminals. For this purpose, the main unit 11 (or the CTI server 13) is directly operated or the client (PDA) 15-1 as the information processing terminal is operated so as to change the setting information in the main unit 11 (or the CTI server 13). In either event, however, a troublesome operation is required.